


Sunshine Riptide

by Haunt_Haunt_Haunt



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Ataru Is Mean, But So Is Niman, Formerly-Darth-Now-Just-Maul, Gen, Lightsaber Training, The Force
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-04
Updated: 2018-06-04
Packaged: 2019-05-18 08:02:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,209
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14848877
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Haunt_Haunt_Haunt/pseuds/Haunt_Haunt_Haunt
Summary: I know no one likes OCs, but fuck it, I do, so I'm writing it anyways.Maul gains a trainee and teaches them about the force. Also, lightsabers, cause fuck yes.





	Sunshine Riptide

"No. Block high, and I'll swing low. It's not always about moving first. It's about reading your opponent," he said in a firm but smooth voice. The blonde girl, she couldn't have been older than sixteen, got up off the ground and wiped her mouth. Maul watched her, just as he had when he had adopted her so long ago. That moment felt like it was lifetimes away now.

He was wearing his black robes, standing on the boarding ramp of the Nightbrother. He had his arms folded, and if it hadn't been for the boarding lights on the Nightbrother, Maul would have blended in seamlessly with the background of nighttime Coruscant. He watched as an old frenemy of his, Kao-Cen Durach, led her to him by the hand. She was only seven, and she looked so small. She was all arms and legs, and had a puff of blonde hair and that weird little rat-tail that the Padawans were supposed to wear. The Jedi made her cut it short. She was nervous. It showed in her aura, and Maul had every intention to keep his first impression strong. When Kao-Cen let go of her hand however, she looked at the ship, then at Maul, and she smiled like she had just seen the wonders of open space for the first time. She ran toward him full-tilt, and he had to resist the urge to draw his saber. When she got to him, she jumped, and he unconsciously spread his arms to keep her from falling. She hugged him, and then she called him Papa. He would be that to her ever since, and he would break anyone's neck if they tried to hurt her.

It had to be like that, even now, and he hated every minute of it. Being her surrogate father had been easy at first. She wasn't very coordinated, but her Force abilities had developed well and she had no problems with basic concepts. She had progressed as he had thought she would, including the time she yelled about bourgeois propaganda in the middle of her galactic civics class. Sure, she got kicked out of public school, but he couldn't have been prouder. He watched her grow, and was there every step of the way. The problems came about when she was twelve. He came home to her bawling and screaming about how she was dying, and of course, he was defensive, but when she explained that she was bleeding, he panicked, having given this part of her life absolutely zero thought.

That's when he decided on the gem that she would forever use against him.

"Your mom is the holonet, kid."

It wasn't his finest moment, and when she started to look less like a girl and more like a woman, the problems only deepened. He wasn't going to assault her or anything like that, but he was painfully aware of her. Her sweat saturating her sports bra and loose Lothalian cotton pants, her mouth set in a grim line, her pale skin, her naked stomach heaving as she she took in air, her moment of recognition when she realized he was lost in thought, she charged him.

"Shit!" He yelled, snapping out of it, and raised his red double blade up in front of his body just in time to parry the blow, but she didn't let up, switching to the Shien stance and raining blow after blow on his broken guard. She was a master of the Falling Avalanche, and he had to fight to keep his blade intersected against her own red one. He analyzed, found an opening between her rain of blows, and he parried one more time then ducked and flipped over her lowered blade. It was a spectacular maneuver, him flipping over and spinning horizontally, while kicking her in the chest at the same time, then landing perfectly. She toppled and ended up on her ass again, and she slapped the ground in frustration.

"How are you so fast?"

"Lots of practice. You took an opening, and it was admirable, but I was able to get my guard up just in time. I'm impressed. Good analysis."

She sighed and turned off the lightsaber, then grabbed a chair and a bottle of water. The garage they were practicing in was crowded, but when they practiced, Maul moved the Nightbrother outside, so they at least had room to maneuver.

"Can we talk for a minute?"

Maul pulled a chair to him from the other side of the room with the Force, and sat down. "Yeah. I need a breather. What's going on, Emma?"

Emma twisted the cap off of the bottle of water and took a sip, then passed it to him. He did the same. She looked like she was trying to find the right phrasing for what she was going to ask, and adjusted her sports bra as she did. He caught himself looking and felt like a total bastard.

"So, you've taught me how to use the Force. How to twist it and mold it to my will, and it's been pragmatic, but I don't really know what the Force is. Like, what is it? Why is it a thing? The Jedi never got around to that with my class."

He thought about it for a minute, taking another sip of the water and handing it back to her. "The Force is a hard thing to explain. What do you think it is?"

She took the water and twisted the cap back on. "I mean, it's like it's a living thing, but it's existence is on such a higher plane of existence that it doesn't know we exist."

"That's a fair assumption. The way I see it is this. The Force is a byproduct of life. Everyone contributes to it, and it's inherent in all living things. People say that it's part of us, that it penetrates us, and that it binds the galaxy together, but I see it more as a thing that exists because of living things, not despite living things. If there was no organic life, then there would be no Force, and those that have the ability to utilize it just have their minds more open genetically. It's like we can use the entirety of our brain to tap it, instead of only using the ten percent as most organics do."

"Then if that is the case, shouldn't we be capable of teaching others to use it like we do? Can it be taught?"

Maul laughed. " I raised no dummy. That is a question that scholars have been debating for centuries, yet it still hasn't been done. It might be possible, but if it is, it has to be incredibly difficult and would take a true master of the mysteries of the Force to do so. There are no recorded cases of it happening, so it may not be possible, or maybe no one has been able to do it yet because they aren't doing it the right way."

Emma nodded, then stood. "Are we done? I need to shower."

Maul nodded. He hated to see her go, but he loved to watch her leave, and he fucking hated himself for thinking it.


End file.
